


War And The Workplace

by AshTheFox



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26436688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshTheFox/pseuds/AshTheFox
Summary: A bad memory, a big animal, and a messed up beginning. What more could go wrong in a shitty life?
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 1





	1. A Memory

It was July 11th, 2020. Covid had just started to calm down but more things were happening as time moved forward. Today was my mother’s birthday and she just wanted to ignore the alien rumors and water poisoning that had been proven the month prior. No one died but anyone older than 30 seemed to get very sick. It was just like a 3 day cold so now my family was functional and back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be. Kayla had decided to ditch earlier and Allahna was at the moment, defending me. Mom had just told me, “All I want for my birthday is for you to stop faking all these illnesses. Depression, Anxiety, Bipolar? That shit is getting old Ash. Stop faking.” It had taken everyone for surprise since it wasn’t like her at all. Dad, though agreed, decided it was time for me, him, and mom to all go out. Allahna insisted on coming with us to make sure nothing more would happen. 

We all got in the car and started on the way. It took so long and seemed like the area around us was unfamiliar. We all grew up in this area so we all knew the area very well. Me and Allahna both looked at each other and she suddenly went pale. I looked behind me, out the window and saw it. It looked like what movies said the  Patagotitan looked like, except bigger. Their legs were thicker and their heads reached easily up to the clouds. It wasn't moving and if no one was paying attention they could easily look like massive redwood trees. But we were, and forced to as the car slowly stopped and sputtered. Dad cursed and tried to get it to turn over with no avail. Suddenly the earth rumbled and we looked off Allahna’s side and saw the biggest cat imaginable. It was barreling towards us, at a speed faster than it should have been able too. It had sabertooth teeth and a white liger coat. Worst of all we were in the line it was running, “OUT!” Allahna screeched. I followed suit quickly, me and my cousin both running back the way we came, and looked back to see my parents looking at us confused. As I stopped and yelled back for them to hurry, my cousin clasped her hands over my eyes and I heard a loud crunching of metal. 

The weeks to follow were like a blur. The government came out saying anyone under the age of thirty were having delusions of giant monsters, described and dinosaurs, tigers, snakes, whales, and other animals. It was only when people started dying from “invisible creatures” Prancing through cities did anyone decide to listen. Everyone was required to have someone at least 15 or older with them. Younger and sometimes, the kids would make up lies because they didn’t understand the severity. Orphans, foster care, and extra kids older than 17 were taken to camps for study, or training to help protect the world. 

It became clear the poison in the water was from a random source and gave many the ability to see these creatures. A few history and lore buffs named a few. The Sky Whales were named as so, depending where you were the snakes were named “Unhcegila” and “Basilisk”. I suppose we should have been glad they couldn’t breathe fire. The dino we saw was kept as “Patagotitan” as it was simpler that way. The only violent ones it seemed we had to worry about was female tigers, all snakes, wolves, and crocodiles. 

My studies focused on sky whales. We follow them in a large aircraft carrier that actually is an aircraft. It has sky capabilities and space lifters as well. It is required at all points on the ship everyone has parachutes on. Today is my first day going out onto a sky whale. We have to be very careful as not to anger the whale while on it. Otherwise they spin and we can get knocked off, which is why we have trackers so they can find us. 

Picking up my bag, I walk down the hall. People follow behind me as I follow the sounds of wind and beeping. It was time to jump. I’ve always been scared of the jump since if you don’t do it right you can miss the whale all together and just end up falling 100 miles. I look out the windows as they strap extra bags to us for spare food and resources. I can feel my heart racing as I hear the announcements, though it is clear they fall on deaf ears as the next moment, I’m falling. 

  
  


Despite it being such a short drop, time slowed. I could see birds below us flying in vortex patterns, and clouds changing as they moved through the sky, and as my feet hit the leathery skin of the whale I had to drop to my knees not to bounce off. The skin reminded me of jumping on a trampoline and as others landed around me only half of them made that connection as well, the others bounced off. After about a minute everyone still with us had settled. I pulled out my needle and blood bag as I gently and carefully punctured the whale’s skin. Slowly a thicker blue liquid started pumping through the tube. It took about 5 minutes for my bag to be filled and I looked up to see how the others were doing. One guy who barely got on this mission was trying to walk up to the front of the whale. As we all looked ahead and saw a cloud the whale pushed forward a bit harder. 

  
  


For those of us holding their center of balance it was easy, but this guy fell, and as he slid down the side of the whale he pulled out a knife, sticking it into the whale. I could feel myself scream out, “No” but I couldn’t even hear it over the sound of the wind and the whale instantly cried out as Gunner slid further down, cutting further and deeper into this poor creature. I looked to the others and saw them being lifted off the whale, and all of them holding on tight to their bags. I couldn’t even tell I was falling until I saw the leathery whale getting further from me. As quick as I could snap out of it I put away the few supplies I had out and looked to the earth. I was pretty high up and felt myself getting sick and my stomach dropping. I tried my best to even myself out before pulling the parachute line. It felt as if my entire body had been zapped as I was pulled hard to a more upright position. Once my chute was open it was much easier to calm down. I saw none of my co-workers near me and I couldn’t even see the Whale above me. 

What I could see ahead of me was a clearing area with many, many giant tigers. I tried to turn myself out of the way ith the time I had but I wasn't trained for that. It only made my aim worse as I landed directly on top of one of the tigers. It had black and orange stripes similar to an actual tiger, which was rare. The parachute nearly pulled me off as I slipped it off and steadied myself onto the tiger. After a few seconds of heavy breathing I looked up to see this amber-eyed tiger looking at me. It’s eyes were dilated as if it was high as hell. “What are you doing up there?” I heard from the ground. I looked down to see a familiar face at the bottom of the paw holding a bush shaped ball of what I could only guess was catnip. The tiger seemed to see it to as it laid down, allowing me to fall off with only knocking my breath out of me, before instantly taking the bush. 

I took in a shaky breath and spent the next minute as my friend walked over, trying to sit up, “How did I know you would volunteer for the tiger program?” I asked carefully as I looked up at the brown haired girl. She looked like a safari character from a cringy T.V. show. 

Rose only laughed at this and helped me up best she could, and helped we walk to her jeep. It was clearly not hers as she would never drive something awkwardly painted camo, but she let me get in and as she buckled up she said, “Well, there is less chances of dying in the tiger fields than there is in the sky like you chose.” She started up the car and listened to my story as I told her about Gunner and how I had no idea how I had drifted this far, before asking to see the blood I had collected. I pulled out the bag and showed her the blue blood, proud of myself for not losing it in the fall. After a minute of looking at it so she wouldn’t go off the road she said, “We use a juice similar color to that to sedate the tigers if they try to hurt us. The Officials will probably ask for it when you get to our compound.” 

I shrugged and put away the blood, “It isn’t like I’ll need it down here.” I watched as the world passed us by, and as we got closer to a huge compound surrounded by large cages, about the size of the school gymnasium I had in my school. 

Rose saw me staring at the cages and said, “We keep the babies safe from the Unhcegilas until they outgrow the cages, and let them go. This also makes them nicer to us while in the wild.” I nodded a bit and watched as we pulled up to the gate, curious what would come next. 


	2. Chapter 2

Warmth filled the room as I watched the flames from the fireplace make the room glow a dim amber. Rose pulled away from the fire as it grew a bit bigger. My mind wandered back to when we were younger, on a school trip, if she got to start the fires like the others or if she was nervous about making them. She has always been very distant, like in her own world, that it made me wonder if the separation between us had made her grow while apart from me. She seemed to notice me zoning out as she walked over to the desk in the corner of her room. Shuffling around then pulling out a disk booklet, moving back over to set it in front of me. 

She gave me a weak smile, “How about you let me fix up your hair, and we can play some games. I have to commission the consoles from Officer Ruby but I’m sure they will let us.” I looked down at the clear booklet and in the front I saw that it was a 1 by 3 holding case. It was thick and seemed full of plenty of disks. The first three were ones I knew very well as she had introduced me to them. She had even gotten me a pillow of my favorite character from the middle game in the series. I felt tears in my eyes as I gave a nod, opening up the booklet to see what else could be in there. She patted my back and got up to head out of the room.

While alone in the room I looked over to the computer on the desk. It was small like a book, maybe the size of a kindle. It was what everyone got except the head officers who received cellphones to broadcast to the computers. I got up and walked over to open it, and after five seconds the black screen lit up to a current broadcast of the outside. Fur was scattered everywhere and groups orders were being played on a repeat for clean up and precautions. 

  
  


_ “Ash come on, Officer Ruby wants to talk to you!” I heard Stella call from outside my room. I was lucky that they accepted me in so fast to the Tigris program after my fall. It had only been about a month since Rose introduced me to the leaders of the program. And as it turned out I was still learning the traveling ones.  _

_ I grabbed my sky whale messenger bag, cute and practical, before pushing open the door, “Officer Ruby?” I asked as I saw the smiling girl on the other side.  _

_ She motioned for me to follow, her hair bouncing in her high ponytail as she walked in front of me, “Yeah, apparently that is their preferred name since their partner’s real name is Sapphire? Some sort of cartoon reference.” She didn’t seem to be joking as she told me this, making it painfully clear she had never seen the brilliant show.  _

_ “Oh yeah? I love that show! It will be interesting to see them, tell me though? Are they abnormally short?” I questioned with a chuckle, looking to my left as the enclosed hallways turned to the skywalk. It revealed a savanna I had only seen in movies, with plenty of animals roaming nearby. As it turned out the Tigris species had attracted other animals to be with them, causing a calming effect on the wild life around them. If the group were as smart as humans it is possible they may grow to be omnipotent rulers. But I doubt humans would ever let that happen, as they were so stubborn.  _

_ She looked back to give me a confused look as we entered back into the enclosed area, with a very surprised Pikachu look before just continuing on. Apparently Stella had informed Rose about the program and led her to join. I was just happy to be away from Gunnar, who I had sadly learned survived, and the others in my crew. As we entered the board room I saw a red haired person standing over the table, maps sprawled out in front of them as they had a red and blue marker in their hands. They seemed to be marking it in different patterns before they noticed that we had entered the room. We both give a quick, “General” before Stella headed out of the room. I was guessing from the lack of salute or bow Ruby was probably a pretty calm person, unlike Rose’s head officer Dylan, “Ash, I heard you were a tracking expert at the Sky Whale’s headquarters?”  _

_ I gave them a confused look, they had an accent I couldn’t place. It wasn't deep or unintelligible but a bit softer, “Not an expert General. Just a tracker.” It was true, whales weren’t hard to follow. They were pretty big and always followed storms. _

_ “Think you can help us? There is a creature we are trying to follow and I could use any extra help. It seems to be randomly traveling but finding the cause of it’s movements may help us to understand the species.” They gestured to the table in front of them, allowing me to see their arms. I noticed they were covered in colorful tattoos which seemed to have no reason. Just colorful waves.  _

_ I walked over and looked over the maps, looking at the blue and red coloring on a clear laminate above the maps of what looked to be a nearby area. About a week’s travel, “No promises, but I will be happy to try.” They spent the next hour explaining their coloring process, getting a few more colors for factors, and explaining what was happening in nearby areas when the creature was in each region, “Ruby? What exactly is this creature? Is it a flying or walking creature? What do we know about it?”  _

_ I looked up at their deep brown eyes and saw their brows furrow, “An Amarok…”  _

  
  
  


I felt my heart skip a beat as the door closed behind me, causing me to look back and see Rose holding a small tv under one arm and a black and green console under the other. They smiled and walked over to the desk, setting it up, “What did Ruby say?” I asked softly as I walked back over to my blanket, picking up the booklet to give to her. Maybe she wanted to play something else than I did too. She was affected by this attack too. 

“Sapphire was there. She will be by soon to bring some supplies for your hair. She said she had some premium stuff that will work well for your hair.” She seemed to be forcing a smile. I didn’t want to put her out on it since she was trying so hard to make me feel better. Her social battery was probably so low with all the stuff that happened. 

“...let’s play the third one. I never got to romance Josie. And I can show you how I beat the farm before level 10.” I say with a true chuckle, as she seemed to get a little extra sassy. 

“It is impossible and you know it. That is harder than the final boss.” 

“Well maybe you are just a bad player. I may not have beaten the game but that little feat is all I needed.” I swipe up a controller and pull up a bean bag chair a small distance from the tv, making sure she could get behind me to work on my hair when she got the supplies. She flipped the tv screen on and I heard the oh so familiar chime of the console starting up. 

  
  
  


_ Across the screen I saw the weather playing on a loop, following the last month. The same duration as I have been working with Ruby and Sapphire. It seemed the weather which I tracked for the sky whales, also affected the Amarok in the area. We hadn’t figured out what was guiding the wolf but we had figured out from the reports from soldiers near it that in stormy bad weather, the creature would attack easily and without care for if it killed anything or not, one track minded. While in calm or sunny weather it was mostly peaceful. If anything attacked it, they would hold onto the smell and hunt that victim wherever it went.  _

_ “What if it tracks something that attacks it, a big hunt, and then when a storm hits it loses the scent or creature so it heads in a separate or random direction?” Sapphire suggested, her voice, unlike Ruby was much deeper and she spoke a bit faster as well.  _

_ “A good idea but some of the weather places don’t line up with that. And this creature is getting closer. If we don’t find out what is moving it, other than food, we may just be attacked.” Ruby said with a sigh, leaning back against the table which still had the maps, with more markings, on them.  _

_ I stared up at the charts. It didn’t move based on temperature. It didn’t move based on the specific food either. Bones of all times of creatures followed the path. It had even come in contact with another Amarok and just kept moving. The second team who followed the second Amarok seemed to drop off the earth not long after.  _

_ Sapphire sighed and moved over to the windows on the far end of the room, “I wish we had some sort of way to tame these guys. The blue blood doesn't affect them like the others. If anything it makes them more hungry. Dangerous. We will have to move our shipments out if it gets close enough.”  _

_ I suddenly had a thought and turned to the maps, looking over the creatures in all the areas it had been, “Maybe it is tracking something we can’t see, or find normally.” I pulled out an old notebook I kept from my sky whale tracking, flipping through the pages before finding what I was looking for, “Here it is, ‘ _ **_Today after the team found the blue sky whale and got some blood, it followed into a storm near a mountain. We decided to hang back but a sound of howling was louder than the storm nearby. Lead officer Grayson said to take to higher ground. In the following morning we found a dead sky whale on the side of the mountain, with no skin, meat, or organs.’_ ** _ We need to call the nearest sky whale ship and see if there are any in the area. If there is It could be tracking that.”  _

_ Sapphire looked thoughtful before speaking up and saying, “I don’t know if we could even do anything if that is true. It isn’t like we can redirect a sky whale. They don’t really speak English.” She says before crossing her arms, letting out a sigh. Her own blue hair fell into her face, covering the tanned skin on her right cheek.  _

_ Ruby chuckles and pats their upper arm, “Don’t be so sure. I'm strong enough to take on ten sky whales! Trust me darling, we will be fine!”  _

  
  
  


“They said It would be okay. Rose how am I suppose to go back to work when so many people got hurt because of this stupid decision?” I could hear Rose and Sapphire on the other side of the door. Sapphire had grown to be a good friend with Rose, so of course she would go to her for relationship advice. Sapphire and Ruby rarely fought like this. Usually it was over stuff like who would run what outings. This next month would be a hard recovery time for everyone. 

“It’s okay Sapphire. Just give it time. We gotta take this step by step. Go focus on contacting other stations, warn them we may need more help than we thought.” Sapphire must have just nodded because Rose came back in without another word. She sat in the folding chair behind me and started spraying my hair with the spray bottle, “I'll make ya look extra fabulous for Josie. So good she would fall for you even outside the game.” 

I just chuckled, trying not to move my head or eyes away from the screen, “It is okay to be worried about the backlash. This information… will come in handy to protect the other compounds.” After a beat of silence I heard Rose about to say something before I interrupted her, “How many died?” 

I felt her hands hesitate in my hair before picking up the scissors and going to snip, “Enough.” It was unclear whether she meant, ‘no more of this’ or, ‘to many’.

  
  
  


_ “That storm is growing closer. Are you sure the sky whale team was able to redirect the whale?” Ruby asked as they looked down at Officer D-Bag.  _

_ “They haven’t responded to any of our messages Ma’am.” Dylan said as he looked out the window, holding his hat behind his back to expose his half shaved head. Someone shaved it while he was asleep right before the meeting. It almost made me chuckle, but that would be a mile around the building and I really didn’t need that kinda bullshit.  _

_ “It is GENERAL to you Officer. Get it wrong again and you will be doing cleaning duty in the Tigris cages for four weeks.” They talked with venom in their voice that demanded the respect they clearly deserved.  _

_ This did made me chuckle, thinking about all the shit he would have to clean, made me feel like I would have pleasant dreams for weeks instead of stupid morning drills. He turned and his eyes focused onto me, narrowing for a half a second before answering with an, “Of course General, my mistake. Never again.” He gave a soft bow before leaving. He was the only one in the entire compound that bowed to them, since he was the only one that fucked up around them.  _

_ I rolled my eyes and looked over to Ruby, “I’m going to warn Sapphire about the need for more look outs until we get further word on the sky whale.” They gave me a soft wave before I left. I walked down the halls past the living quarters and further into the basement, the file room was usually where I found Sapphire these days. She was always searching for something, anything we could have missed, “Ma’am, you know the storm is coming. And we haven’t heard back from any of the sky whales parties. It seems as if we may be getting an attack after all. I feel more look outs should be posted with five minute check ins.”  _

_ She didn’t even respond as she stared down at a book or older myths and legends, “I think we should have evacuated. Ruby said the helicopters and other protective help should be here soon. Yet, we are running out of time. Did I mess up? Should we have started looking into sky whales sooner?” She stuck her face into the book.  _

_ “Ma’am, with all due respect, you have fucked up a lot in the last three months. But this isn’t one of the points where you fucked up. You have done brilliantly and have helped a lot of people learn what to expect,  _ **_IF_ ** _ this attack happens. Hell, I think you will be the one to save us.” I give a deep laugh as I look to the files surrounding the long room. Most of the Tigris information the government had at all was coming from this facility. Plus we were not making all Tigris friendly, but most were becoming less hostile because of the care we took of those in the area.  _

_ She let out a shaky breath, “Ash, leave me be please.” As the words left her mouth I felt my heart break. I gave a bow, even though she wasn’t watching, and walked back up the stairs. At the top I bumped into a broad chest, and looking up I felt my anger rise a bit.  _

_ A grin spread a crossed D-Bags face, “Looks like you messed up too. I want you to go run some supplies out to the sector line sentries. Take a jeep and go, girly.” I felt my throat tighten as I pushed by him, “Wait one second!” I turned to look at him as I saw his grin widen, “What do you say, hm?”  _

_ “Yes, sir.” I give a salute before turning and walking away, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing my face redden with anger. As I made it down the hall and through to the front gates I told Tyler of the mission I was put on and he directed me to the other side of the building which had a fully stocked jeep, ready to be driven.  _

  
  


“Told you I could do it!” I said, turning my hair and looking at Rose who was sweeping up the hair left on their wood flooring. I was about level 9 and had spent the last hour trial and erroring the section that always proved to be a cactus in the ass. 

As Rose lifted their head and looked at the screen for about three seconds I saw confusion before she just huffed and said, “Pure luck. You cheated for sure. Cheater.” All playfully of course, yet as she turned her back to throw the hair away we heard a knock at the door. 

We didn’t even have time to react before Ruby cracked open the door and looked in, “Hey, how ya doing?” They seemed to be covered in dirt and ash, so they just opened the door a bit wider to see us both so they didn’t need to enter, “I came to give you guys some updates if you wanted them.” Their face was much harder to read than Rose’s or Sapphire’s, but it was clear you could see some tear or rain stains, only on their cheeks. 

“Sure General.” Rose answered, setting down the dustpan as I turned in my own chair to face the door. 

Ruby took a deep breath before looking at Rose in the eyes, then me, switching over the whole conversation, “The Tigris cages have been severely damaged, to the point where it will take at least six months to get everything rebuilt and working again, if not longer.” They paused, making sure to keep their eyes on me, if not wanting to look at Rose. Both of us knew why, “The Amarok escaped and seems to be back on track of the sky whale. Casualties are in the hundreds and injures thousands. The Records were collapsed and all the rain has poured in there, damaging the electronic, and paper files. We are only left with the backup wing in the 7th wing, which is a fourth of our initial intel.” 

The room went silent as Ruby finished. It felt like all I could hear was my breathing as I looked down at my hands, my hair tickling my eyes as I closed them and counted numbers in my head, “What does this mean for us and the Tigris program?” I asked as I rubbed my hands together to distract myself a bit. 

“We will be transferred to Chile. That area at least. They want us to watch over Tigris in that area and try new technology they are testing. It is a small facility but once there we will be in charge till everything has settled and new permanent generals can be enlisted.” It sounded like they had said it a million times. We were probably one of the last ones to be briefed before those in the infirmary. 

“How long before we head out?” Rose spoke up, clearly a bit shaken but not as bad as I would have expected.

“I’m not sure, a week to a month. I would pack your stuff and be ready to move out any time. I’ll.. leave you too it.” Ruby bowed her head before closing the door, leaving only her retreating footsteps as the sounds in the room. 

  
  


_ The sound of metal was crunching everywhere as I pushed my back against the wall. I could hear the scratching against the border just 10 yards from me. Gunshots sounded everywhere and it was hard to tell what direction was safer. If I ran for the compound I could get shot, but If I stood here I could be trampled. Rain poured down so hard the nearby pond was already overflowing, and it felt like pins and needles on my arms and face. I took a few deep breaths before making the split decision to run, pushing my legs hard and faster forward towards the car as I heard the wall crash down behind me. The shockwave as it hits the ground pushes me forward and causes me to tumble and let me see what was behind me.  _

_ A wolf taller than the statue of liberty was stepping over the wall, making the water on the ground visibly turn red. I got up with a stumble before running forward more, seeing people ahead of me both shooting and running. As I felt the ground shake I felt my body lift off the ground, causing searing pain to rush through my entire body as I was flung, feeling a ripping come off my back before my vision went black. I felt nothing around me but pain in my neck and back causing me to cry out. My eyes suddenly started to see again before I felt myself hit concrete. No, It wasn’t concrete. I sank.  _

_ ____________________________________________________________________________ _

  
  


_ I felt myself coming through as I coughed hard, trying to breath, but throwing up water. I gasped and coughed, turning onto my side but I couldn't hear anything I still felt the rain on my skin. I carefully opened my eyes to see my hands covered in mud. I carefully pushed myself up and looked around, coughing still as I adjusted to breathing again. I saw fire in the distance as I leaned against a tree, leaving the pond behind me as I pushed forward. My neck and back felt like it was made of knives as I kicked through the puddles. After what felt like ten minutes I finally made it back to the compound, holding my left arm which was red and blooded. The cages had been crushed or broken into and parts or Tigris were scattered everywhere, fur matted the ground and almost blended with the red blooded puddles. Felt the heat of the flames and smelled burnt hair as I passed to the other side of the compound to see the wolf heading towards the other far wall. I looked to the east at the research and resource centers, only fire could be seen where the buildings used to stand. And as I sat down in the water I felt someone grab my arm, causing me to scream in pain. I turned and looked to see Ruby pull away their hand, their face covered in ash and mud. Their mouth moved but I couldn’t hear anything being said.  _

_ This is when I realized I couldn’t hear the rain of fire either, and I had only felt myself scream. I looked confused and shook my head pointing at my ears before yelling out, hoping I was saying what I wanted, “I can’t hear! Where are Rose and Sapphire?” I held my other hand out to them, as to ask for help to stand up.  _

_ Ruby helped me up carefully and tried to yell closer to my ear but I only heard white noise. They just shook their head and shrugged, looking around. I guess they hoped I would know.  _

  
  
  


My hearing was still going out from time to time, and after the Amarok tore my jacket and half my hair off my head, I had to check into the medics once a week to make sure nothing was permanently damaged. Rose had been burned on her leg and had a hard time walking, not that she needed more reason to be clumsy. Rose had done a good job fixing my hair the next morning and Ruby eventually came and helped with my hair, like they did with Sapphire. A few people were without trauma or severe damage. I was lucky I was thrown so far out of the damage path. 

The world passed below us as once again I found myself in a plane, but this time just reading a book as I didn’t prepare for more than setting up my new room. Because the compound was smaller, me and Rose would be sharing a room. We heard that in Chile there were still a lot of domestic, non-giant cats. So if we got a chance we would gladly get a cat to keep us company. It was a month in a half after the battle and now we were just arriving in Chile. Apparently not much of the world was impacted here in South America. People still had the Giants mostly in mountains of heavy forests, but they were just docile. This was another thing we were supposed to study. 

Touchdown happened a day and some change after take off, leaving us all happy to be on the ground, but less happy to see what awaited us. Our base was built into a cliffside dip, almost like a cave entrance. It seemed very sturdy and well made but I could see many possible ways it could go wrong. We had a group of 500 in our unit. Cut in half for Ruby and Sapphire, who seemed to be doing much better. Ruby instantly took their half to set up units for patrols and communication. Sapphire, who took me and Rose, to make relations with nearby towns, set up food, file and set up personal info 9such as who was in which rooms), and other things of the sort. 

Rose and I along with 15 other people were told to go to the nearby town Nexus. As we arrived at the Nexus we could see the town was lined in the streets with food stands, trinkets, and other merchandise of the area. We broke into groups of 3 with radios to call each other, and each group had a 1 min delay to check in. The last pair was Me and Rose who were heading to the town hall. After we got to the town hall, about 10 min in, the call outs went off, “Group 1 clear.” , and after a minute, “Group 2 clear.”, so on, one min breaks until it gets to us, “Pair 6, clear. Check in again in 10.” 

Everyone clicked their radio in confirmation as we walked into the building. Rose walked forward and held up her badge, “Hello, We are from the Blue sector of unit 8 in the Tigris research program. We are here to talk to someone about community rules and guidelines?” She spoke strong and clear, which was also surprising since she stumbled and stuttered over the practicing rounds in the van.

The guy behind the desk looked up from his computer and looked at the badge with her face and the blue bar code beneath, before glancing at me and seeing the same blue barcode. He sighed like he just had his movie dinner plans ruined. He picked up the phone and called someone on it, saying something about, “beast lovers”. He gives us a strained smile and tells us to wait in the middle of the room. While we were waiting the next call off happened, but group three didn’t answer, “This is pair 6, all clear. Groups 4 and 5, go pair up, use this channel if needed and search for group 3, check on them in person. Group 2, contact channel the Reds are on and tell them group 3 didn’t check in.” I heard a corresponding, “Roger.”, from those called before I state, “Group 1 and 2, once clear return to the van and wait for Red’s orders.” There was the clicks of understanding before I saw a tall lengthy woman approaching wearing a beautiful blue dress which well complimented her tanned skin and caramel covered hair that wound like vines from a tree. 

“I hope there were no problems finding your base. We tried to make sure the roads in the areas were cleared for you.” She says with a clear voice, it was easy to tell she was used to speaking to people without problems. 

Rose thought for a moment but after a few seconds of thought replies, “We had no problem finding anything. We would like to make sure if there are any rules, written or otherwise, in your city, we can learn them to make our presence as invasive as possible.” She spoke a bit slower and softer than the woman, yet her voice still held confidence. 

“Of course.” She walked over to the desk and grabbed a folder from the man, before holding it out to us. Rose took it without a thought, to open it, looking at the map in the front page, “The closer to red the area is the more dangerous the city is there. There is a night version on the back and the next page would include our known… groups, along with their areas on the map. The back of that paper has how to identify them. I’ll tell you though, not a lot of people are much looking forward to you messing with the way things are out here. We are set in our ways, and don’t want to anger any… animals.” She says with a chuckle, her eyes piercing into my own as she couldn’t seem to catch Rose’s. 

Rose was looking over the papers carefully and confused as my radio went off, “Red team reached Van, all groups here except Group 6, Red team coming to Transport Group 6 back to the transport vehicles. Over?” 

I look up at the woman as I lean into my radio and say, “We are at the town hall holding sensitive information. Currently safe and will wait inside until your arrival. Over.” I click my radio as I straighten myself, “Is there a name you go by?” 

She chuckles and crosses her arms, “Darlings, my name is Evanora. Feel free to come back any time. However if you have any more questions I do ask you to refer to Tim for anything else.” She motions to the man behind her before looking at us two again, “And you two?” 

Rose still seemed preoccupied so I spoke up again, “I am Ash and this is Rose. We are both from the Blue sector of unit 8 in the Tigris research program. A mouthful, short it is B.S.8.T.R. Not much better but if you talk to anyone they will be able to know what group it is.” 

Recognition flashes through her eyes before she seems to frown, but it was hard to tell if it was real, “You were the group attacked at the center of Africa. A shame what happened to all those captured cats. Were there any survivors?” 

“No animal ones, no.” The folder snaps shut as Rose’s eyes rose to match Evanora’s own, “Thank you for the rules. I believe we should be able to follow these. Sorry to take up your time.” She turns to start walking to the door, which is where I can finally see how dull her own eyes had gotten in that moment. 

She returned without another word towards the way she came. Me and Rose stood in silence as I looked through the folder myself, looking over the papers until the guards found us. They briefed us along the way that Group 3 was mugged and their radios were taken. Once learning this the chips in the radios were fried, so our actions couldn’t be kept tabs on. As we got to the others the medic for the red group was taking care of Group 3. As everyone was getting into the 3 vans now I heard a soft sound nearby. I stepped off to the side and saw a trash lid skidding across the ground slowly I walked over and lifted it to see a small cat under it. It couldn’t have been older than two months old. I softly and carefully lifted it and it started pawing at my shirt and meowing. I laughed and without another thought I walked over to the Van, getting in and passing the small cat to Rose. 


End file.
